xxii, 354 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : 24 cm

Vivien Leigh was perhaps the most iconic actress of the twentieth-century. As Scarlett O'Hara and Blanche Du Bois she took on some of the most pivotal roles in cinema history. Yet she was also a talented theatre actress with West End and Broadway plaudits to her name. In this ground-breaking new biography, Alan Strachan provides a completely new full-life portrait of Leigh, covering both her professional and personal life. Using previously-unseen sources from her archive, recently acquired by the V & A, he sheds new light on her fractious relationship with Laurence Olivier, based on their letters and diaries, as well as on the bipolar disorder which so affected her later life and work. Revealing new aspects of her early life as well as providing glimpses behind-the-scenes of the filming of Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire, this book provides the essential and comprehensive life-story of one of the twentieth century's greatest actresses

As Scarlett O'Hara and Blanche Du Bois, Vivien Leigh took on some of the most pivotal roles in cinema history-- but was also a talented theatre actress. Strachan covers Leigh's professional and personal lives with previously-unseen sources from her archive that shed new light on her fractious relationship with Laurence Olivier, as well as on the bipolar disorder which so affected her later life and work. -- adapted from jacket

Includes bibliographical references (pages 325-339) and index

Prologue -- A child of the Raj -- Hours nearer death -- Young wife and mother -- Enter Olivier -- Altered states -- Printing a legend -- Star-crossed -- Wartime dramas -- From Sabina to Anna -- Down under -- The kindness of strangers -- Two on the Nile -- Crack-up -- Avonside -- At court -- Ending a legend -- Worlds elsewhere -- Last acts -- Epilogue -- Appendix: Facts/false facts

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